960 LATICO SED: 
Outer Hebrides, though not Shetland—seem to emigrate as soon as 
they are fit to journey, and at a later period they are followed by 
most of their parents, so that many parts of the kingdom are 
absolutely bereft of this species from October to the end of January. 
On the continent of Europe the autumnal influx of the birds bred 
in the North is regarded with much interest, as has been already 
stated (MIGRATION, p. 551), for they are easily ensnared and justly 
esteemed for the table, while their numbers make their appearance 
in certain districts a matter of great importance. 
The second species to which the name applies is distinguished 
as the MISTLETOE-THRUSH, corrupted into MIssEL-THRUSH (p. 575).! 
This is a larger species than the last, of paler tints, and conspicuous 
in flight by the white patches on its outer tail-feathers. Of bold dis- 
position, and fearless of the sleety storms of spring,” as of predatory 
birds, the cock will take his stand on a tall tree, “like an enchanter 
calling up the gale” (as Knapp happily wrote), and thence with 
loud voice proclaim in wild and discontinuous notes the fervour of 
his love for his mate ; nor does that love cease when the breeding- 
season is past, since this species is one of those that appear to pair 
for life, and even when, later in the year, it gathers in small flocks, 
husband and wife may be seen in close company. In defence of 
nest and offspring, too, few birds are more resolute, and the Daw, 
Pie or Jay that approaches with an ill intent speedily receives 
treatment that causes a rapid retreat, while even the marauding cat 
finds the precincts of the ‘“‘master of the coppice” (Pen y llwyn), as 
the Welsh name this Thrush, unsuitable for its stealthy operations. 
The connexion of this bird with the mistletoe, which is as old as 
the days of Aristotle, is no figment, assome have tried to maintain. 
Not only is it exceedingly fond of the luscious viscid berries, but it 
seems to be almost the only bird that will touch them. Of other 
British Thrushes, the FIELDFARE (p. 249), REDWING (p. 777) and 
the BLACKBIRD (p. 42) and Ring-OUSEL (p. 666), have been before 
noticed in these pages, as has been (under the first of those headings) 
the so-called “ Rosin” (pp. 250, 791) of North America. 
1 There is no doubt of the bird taking its name from the plant Mistletoe 
(Visewm album), about the spelling of which there can be no uncertainty—A.-S, 
Misteltan, the final syNable originally signifying ‘‘ twig,” and surviving in the 
modern ‘‘ tine,” as of a fork or of a deer’s antler. 
2 It is known also in many districts as the ‘‘Storm-cock,”’ from its habit of 
singing in squally weather that silences almost all other birds, and ‘‘ Holm- (é.e. 
Holly-) Thrush,” while the harsh cries it utters when angry or alarmed have 
given it other local names, as ‘‘ Screech,” ‘‘Shrite,” and ‘‘Skrike,” all traceable 
to the Anglo-Saxon Scric. And it is likely that the word Surike (p. 843) may 
have been originally applied to the Mistletoe-Thrush. In several of the Anglo- 
Saxon Vocabularies dating from the 8th to the 11th century, as printed by 
Thomas Wright, the word Seric, which can be hardly anything else than the 
early form of ‘‘Shrike,” is glossed Turdus. 
